Patent GB-433879-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to record card controlled printing machines
Filed: 1934-02-22
Abstract: 433,879. Perforated record-card controlled printing - machines. BRITISH TABULATING MACHINE CO., Ltd., Victoria House, Vernon Place, Southampton Row, London. Feb. 22, 1934, No. 5913. Convention date, Feb. 23, 1933. [Class 106 (i)] Statistical machines controlling printing of zeros.-A record - card controlled printing- machine having a card-reading device, printing members controlled thereby to print an amount, each member printing one digit, and having mechanism to suppress zero-printing to the left of the highest significant figure of the amount, is characterized by the inclusion of additional printing members, each of which prints zero when a separate associated one of the amount - printing members prints a significant figure or zero. By this means, there is printed on a cheque, after a pre-printed legend " Not over $1 ...," as many zeros as there are significant denominations in the amount, the zeros following the " 1 "; e.g. for an amount of 789 dollars the legend is completed to read " Not over$1000." The record-card controlling the printing serves also as the cheque. The invention is applied to the machine described in Specification 374,960 in which horizontally sliding type-bars carrying the type 1.2 .... 9.0<*> are arrested differentially by magnets 58. Connected to magnets 58, but in reverse order, are additional magnets 58a which differentially arrest the additional printing bars. The latter, instead of the numerals 1.2 ... 9.0 and an asterisk, carry ten zero type and an asterisk. The type bars controlled by magnets 58 are provided with zero-suppression mechanism as described in Specification 374,960. The additional type bars also have the same zero-suppression mechanism, but connected in reverse order so as to suppress zero-printing to the right of the most right. hand additional bar which is positioned in correspondence with an energized magnet 58 to print from one of its ten zero type. If, say, three magnets 58 are energized to print 789 dollars as shown on Fig. 5, then the three magnets 58<a>, electrically coupled by lines 131 to these three magnets 58, also differentially arrest their type bars in the 9, 8, and 7 positions. But since these type bars each carry ten zero type, three zeros are printed to complete the legend " Not over$1000 " as shown in Fig. 5. The zero-suppression mechanisms act to print asterisks to the left of the number 7 in the amount and to print asterisks to the right of the number 1000. Printing may be effected on any one of five lines on the card, Fig. 5, which is fed with its upper edge leading. The drive for the cardfeed rolls includes a mutilated gear 39, Fig. 3, driven by a wheel 40 on a constantly running shaft 15 so that the card halts for a time at the printing platen. A flange 40<c> rigid with shaft 15 has five slots 40b adapted to receive a pin 40<a> on the wheel 40. This wheel 40 may be slid axially against spring pressure to disengage pin 40<a> and reset it in another slot 40b so that the time in the card feed at which the platen halt occurs, is changed to effect printing on another line of the card. During the adjustment of pin 40<a>, the wheels 40 and 39 remain in mesh.